Getty QB Deshaun Watson
Louis Riddick is telling you there’s a chance, Chicago Bears fans. On a segment of ESPN’s Greeny Show Thursday, host Mike Greenberg spoke with the Monday Night Football analyst and GM candidate about a number of things, including a recent Tweet of his that raised a few eyebrows.
Riddick, who interviewed with the Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars for their vacant GM positions and was reportedly considered for the same role with the Atlanta Falcons, is one of the more respected voices in football, and when a fan floated a Deshaun-Watson-to-the-Bears scenario at him on Twitter, Riddick didn’t shoot the idea down, noting Chicago’s current head coach, Matt Nagy, wasn’t around when GM Ryan Pace made the fateful decision to draft Mitch Trubisky over Watson in 2017.
@nfldraftscout Matt Nagy wasn’t in Chicago when he came out. He was still in KC. This isn’t just Pace’s show anymore…
Riddick, who worked with Nagy for three years in Philadelphia, remains good friends with the Bears head coach, and when Greenberg asked him to clarify his Tweets about Watson and Nagy, Riddick had some interesting things to say.
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Riddick: ‘Matt Nagy Loves Deshaun Watson’
As of now, the majority of insiders associated with the Texans and the league don’t see a way for Watson to remain in Houston, and while the Bears aren’t at the top of the list of the likeliest candidates to trade for him, (teams like the Jets, Dolphins and Colts have far more draft capital and cap space) Riddick told Greenberg that based on his knowledge of Nagy, there’s no way the Bears aren’t going to be in the mix for the superstar quarterback:
It’s interesting to me … look, if you’re in Chicago right now, if you’re Matt Nagy, if you’re Ryan Pace … you know that this is it for you this year. You’ve gotta do something, and you definitely have to do something at that quarterback position — would you be thinking of a way to try and say: ‘Look, is there’s any way possible we can get this guy here?’ Cause I can tell you this: Matt Nagy loves Deshaun Watson, and Matt wasn’t in Chicago when Ryan Pace drafted Mitch Trubisky. Matt was still in Kansas City. I know he loves Deshaun Watson. I know for a guy right now who sees his future in Chicago teetering on the brink of disaster — you think right now, he’s not trying like hell to figure out a way to get into the mix in that discussion? I guarantee you he is. Guaranteed. Guaranteed.
Could Desperate Times Mean Desperate Measures for Bears?
Riddick is a realist, and he acknowledged the fact that Chicago isn’t exactly in the best fiscal position to trade for Watson, who led the NFL in passing with 4,823 yards this season.
“They don’t have the kind of cap space that a team like Indy or the Jets have, and they’re looking at a situation where maybe the GM and the head coach are really sitting there with a very uncertain future,” Riddick acknowledged.
Still, the current analyst and GM candidate noted that the Bears are in desperation mode right now, and that could be enough for Pace and company to pull out all the stops.
“Chicago is desperate. The coach and the GM are desperate to figure out the quarterback position. And I’ll tell you this … knowing Matt like I know him, I know his wheels are turning right now trying to figure out: ‘Could I be a player in this? Could I somehow get my name into this?’ Trust me — he’s trying to figure it out.”
Watson coming to save the day in Chicago remains a pipe dream in the minds of many of Bears fans — but hearing Riddick’s take on it has to be encouraging at the very least.
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Insider Has Encouraging Take on Bears & Deshaun Watson: ‘Trust Me’